Edge of Darkness

When Boston Police Detective Thomas Craven's daughter is murdered in what appears to be an attempt on his own life, Craven unfolds a conspiracy that is bigger than anything he's ever dreamed off. As Craven takes the investigation into his own hands, he discovers the truth behind North Moor, the nuclear company his daughter used to work for and that she was in fact the target. Along the way, Craven is stalked by North Moor employees as he attempts to gain information from some of Emma's closest friends. As Craven gets closer and closer to exposing the truth behind his daughters murder, he finds himself itching closer and closer to his own death.

This movie reminded be a lot of Pierre Morel's Taken, starring Liam Neeson. The two movies focus around two former highly-trained soldiers who's daughters have been taken from them. The two fathers then take the law into their own hands and do whatever it takes to get to the bottom of their children's case. The obvious difference being that Neeson's daughter is still alive, and Mel Gibson's daughter was murdered.

I do tend to enjoy the movies where the main characters put everything on the line, as though they have nothing to live for, but everything to die for. In the Edge of Darkness, Gibson appears to be unfazed by all the chaos around him, carrying that bad ass mentality that no matter what you do, I will get what I want from you. Gibson is willing to stand in front of a car headed full speed at him and not even flinch as he fires round after round into the windshield.

I did find it somewhat strange that Craven would hear his daughters voice guiding him after she was murdered. The movie would have been fine with just the parts where he would see his daughter at a young age as if the two were re-living an old memory. The story needs points like the flash backs to show that Craven is in fact human, and that what he is fighting for really does mean something to him.

Peter Stebbings' Defendor

Woody Harrelson, mentally challenged, and Superhero are three things you wouldn't think would go together, but Peter Stebbings' Defendor is just that. Harrelson plays the part of Defendor, a masked vigilante seeking revenge for the people who killed his mother. When Harrelson is not out fighting crime as Defendor, he is construction worker Arthur Poppington. The movie is told to us by Poppington, as he is explaining everything to a criminal psychiatrist after he is arrested for a crime we will later discover as the movie unfolds. Through his story, we learn that Poppington was abandon by his mother at an early age and that he has lived a reclusive live ever since. Poppington isn't just your everyday construction worker, Poppington is mentally and socially challenged on a number of levels and believes that what he reads in comic books are in fact real.

Defendor's main mission in this movie is to find "Captain Industry" whom he believes killed his mother. Along the way, Defendor befriends a young street hooker named Kat, played by Kat Dennings. At First Kat uses Poppington for his money and a place to stay, but comes to realize how special he really is. This movie does a great job at making you want to root for the good guy, even though you know he doesn't stand a chance against gangsters with real guns. Surprisingly, against all odds Defendor is able to get himself out of trouble more often than not with his toy gadgets and unique fighting tactics.

This movie can be seen as a comedy with the way Defendor acts, but in the end is quite sad, as Defendor seems to be the only one willing to fight the crime. Harrelson does an outstanding and convincing job playing the socially challenged Arthur Poppington, making you want to root for him all the way until the end. At times you do feel bad for him, the way others take advantage of his generosity and general lack of common sense, but that adds to the character.

Defendor is definitely one of those hidden gems worth seeing. As a fan of superheros and comic book characters growing up and knowing the difference between fiction and reality, this movie really hits the spot with tagging what a real life superhero would be like in a world with real criminals and real weapons.

Sherlock Holmes

Sherlock Holmes, staring Robert Downey Jr. is a movie about a detective whose most recent mystery has come back from the dead, creating a stir amongst the entire town. Holmes, a respected detective with an unusual set of hobbies, is not only forced with not only capturing Lord Blackwood, a man whom he has already caught, but has to deal with the return of the only person who has outsmarted him, his ex-girlfriend Irene Adler. While chasing down Adler and her new boss, and solving the new mystery of Lord Blackwood, Holmes and his sidekick Watson find themselves in over their heads.

This might be one of my favorite movies of the year, I always enjoy a movie that makes you think, allows you to try and put the pieces of the puzzle together on your own before the mystery is solved in the end. In this film, Lord Blackwood claims to be sent by the devil and after somehow returning from the grave, will take over London and then the world. But of course Holmes is smarter than the average detective and sees past the theatrics of Lord Blackwood in order to exploit the truth behind Blackwood's great plan. Throughout the movie Holmes stumbles upon very important and unique clues that you might over look, but in the end when explaining himself, he is able to tie everything together in a way that will leave you wanting more.

My favorite parts of the movie had to be where Holmes explained what he was about to do to defeat his enemy, explaining his reason behind each move and what effect it would have. Director Guy Ritche slowed down each of these shots to show the impact of Holmes moves, and then after he was through explaining everything, the whole scenario would be played out in real time to perfection, exactly the way it was told. I enjoy Robert Downey Jr in almost every role he plays, he does a great job making you belief in the character. Holmes is a smart, yet witty detective that knows more than you think, both Downey Jr. and Ritche did a great job at making the audience believe that Holmes knew the answer for everything.

Avatar

James Cameron is at it again, this time after taking over a decade off. Avatar is a movie set in the distant future, in time when resources back at home are scarce and the chance to make your riches are light years away. After one man discovers a mineral worth millions on the planet Pandora, he does whatever possible to get his hands on the source. One of the two options was to try to reason with the native Na'vi, integrate themselves with the natives through Avatars. And when one of the scientist's behind the Avatar experiment is murdered, his twin brother Jake Sully is called in to take his place. Sully, a former marine who lost his legs in battle, was promised a new set of legs if he filled in where his brother left off, an offer he couldn't refuse. The scientists are given a set time to negotiate with the Na'vi before they turn to brute force. Sully, being a former marine is approached by Colonel Miles Quaritch to help him learn the Na'vi's weaknesses, and after fully integrating himself with the natives and they refuse to leave, Quaritch is ordered to attack. Sully is caught up between using his Avatar to protect his new friends and returning to reality where he is a human, helping provide information on the attack against the Na'vi.

If you plan on seeing this movie, which i strongly recommend, you should see it in 3-D. The visual effects of this movie are absolutely stunning. Pandora is entirely computer animated, but looks as real and intriguing as it gets. With other 3-D movies I've seen in the past there would be something that would occasionally pop out at you or stand out from the screen, but in this movie, everything was three dimensional. It is hard to imagine how much time it took to create every little detail. The way the tree branches moved with the wind and the ground lit up at night when walked upon only added to its realism. The Avatars looked exactly like the actors who played them. And even in the scenes where the humans interacted with the the Na'vi on Pandora, you couldn't even tell that they were filming this all in some studio in front of a green screen. This movie is going to change the movie going experience forever, it is quickly becoming the highest grossing film in box-office history. Start looking for more and more blockbuster films to use the 3 dimensional technology to try an encourage viewers to watch in theaters as opposed to waiting until it becomes available on DVD.

At first, when leaving the theater you will feel that you've seen this story before, numerous times maybe, but after second thought, you will realize how intricate the Na'vi lifestyle really is. The way that they are all connected, connected through Pandora and all its creatures, and even after they have passed away, they still live on. These creatures can use their planet to share their history, store information. The power of Pandora is so strong that it can bring someone back to life, can transfer one persons soul into another living being. A connection between people and earth this powerful is worth fighting for.

Where the Wild Things Are

Ever wanted to get away from the real world? Tired of being picked on or told what to do? Well that's exactly how Max feels. Max is the kind of kid whose imagination could fill the pages of every book in a library. And when Max feels ignored by his mother and her new boyfriend, he gets himself into trouble while acting up at dinner. When his mother tries to ground him, Max bites her and runs away, as far away as he can escape. After sailing away on a home-made boat, Max wakes up in a land that only his creative mind could have built. On this island a group of magical creatures live without a King, and when they attempt to eat Max for dinner, he convinces them that he was a magical King that could help lead this bizarre world. Max leads his new friends on a great adventure, letting his imagination run wild.

The Wild Things in this movie looked incredible, and the careless creativity that Max's character was awesome. The film locations were very beautiful, showed every part of the world, on one tiny little island. I loved how Max's character could come up with the craziest explanations for his actions and not skip a beat when convincing his new friends questioned him. You couldn't help but laugh at how completely random this movie was at times, my favorite when Douglas lost his arm and it didn't seem to bother anyone!

After watching the movie, i quickly went to find an old copy of the book by the same name, written by Maurice Sendak, the movie was based on. I was amazed how Spike Jones and Dave Eggers were able to turn a twenty-something page picture book into a 101 minute long movie. The cast was great and Max, coincidentally played by young actor Max Records, was outstanding. I envied the world the Wild Things lived in, they lived to have fun and do whatever they please, it was the perfect home for Max and his imagination. The cast was great, which included the liked of James Gandolfini, Forest Whitaker, Chris Cooper, Catherine O'Hera, and Mark Ruffalo. It was fun seeing these actors play roles you couldn't picture them playing.

Clint Eastwood's Invictus

The movie followed three separate but connected story lines: Nelson Mandela becoming the first black President in South Africa, Mandela’s new security squad becoming integrated, and the South African rugby team uniting a country by winning the world cup. Clint Eastwood did a great job with this movie, he really went in and tired to show the audience's how the racial divide affected everyone, no matter what class or profession. My only issue with this movie is that Eastwood stuck to telling all three of these story lines, and not getting deep enough into one to really make this a great movie. I did enjoy how most of the Rugby matches were filmed. It really put you inside of the game and you could get a sense of how hard hitting and aggressive the sport really is. It is a hooligan’s sport played by gentlemen.

Morgan Freeman was born to play Nelson Mandela, the two look like brothers and have become quite good friends in real life, both respecting each other’s accomplishments, however, I was slightly disappointed in the fact that Mandela’s character sort of took a back seat in this movie to the story line of the Rugby team. Instead of showing the hardships that Mandela went through before becoming President of the country that imprisoned him for 27 years, Freeman simply plays the part of a Rugby fan, a complete waste of what could have been the perfect character portrayal. You only get to see a small part of the struggles in Mandela's live in the scene with his daughter. That is one of two scenes in which we find out Mandela's family basically disowned him, the other being when one of his new security guards asks Mandela about his family while on his morning walk.

My second complaint with this movie is that no character really went through a blockade, a climax of sorts. I was expecting the Rugby team to have a moment where they would come together as one, facing their struggles and showing that they deserved to be the better team. Almost like the suicide skating drill session that Herb Brooks put the 1980 USA Olympic hockey team through in the movie “Miracle.” Instead Matt Damon’s character simply visited his president, was told that the worst team in the world was to win the world cup for its country, and then they went out and did it, and end of the movie. I was also upset at how Francois Pienaar's family treated their housemaid. All throughout the movie the Francois' father would bash blacks right in front of her, but as soon as the Rugby team made it to the finals, everything was fine and Mr. Francois was happy to sit side by side with his maid.

Michael Caine is the Man: Harry Brown

When a group of drug-dealing teenagers take over a subway tunnel in the middle of an apartment complex, things take a turn for the worse for all the neighbors. The teen gang harasses the tenants to the point where an old WWII vet can’t take it anymore and decides to fight back. After the old man is murdered and no justice is to be served, his best friend decides to take the law into his own hands, seeking vengeance for the murder of his last friend.

This is no simple task, noting that Harry Brown, played by Michael Caine, is not your average crime fighting police officer. Instead, Harry Brown makes his way around town, figuring out what happened to his old friend Leonard Attwell the night he was murdered. Along the way Brown not only collects more knowledge and insight that the Police failed to acquire, but also an increasingly powerful collection of weapons to help get the answers he needs.

It saddens me to hear that this might by Caine's last leading role, but it is a very solid performance to go out on. The movie was not widely released in the United States due to its low budget, but a very well told story with some interesting cinematic shots thrown in. My favorite sequence of shots happens to be Caine's trip to the hospital and back at the beginning of the movie.

Rockwell's One Man Show: Moon

Sam Bell, played by Sam Rockwell, is stationed on the Moon working with “Lunar,” an energy harvesting company. Bell, on contract for 3 years, is slowly losing his mind towards the end of his stay, so much that he starts to see other people. This gets Bell into trouble as it becomes a distraction to his work and causes him to crash into a harvester. Leaving Bell for dead, Lunar awakens one of Bell’s clones to start his 3 year contract, preventing him from leaving the station until the rescue crew as retrieved the dead body. Unfortunately the “original” Bell is not killed and his new clone goes out to retrieve his injured body. The two then discover that Lunar has been awakening and killing off numerous clones after they have served their contracts, tricking them into believing they will be going home to a wife and three year old daughter. In the end, they plan to travel back to Earth on the rescuers ship and exploit all that Lunar has been doing for the past decade.

A strange movie, but worth seeing. I would imagine it is extremely difficult to act in a movie all by yourself. The only supporting characters Bell has in this movie are his cloned self and a robot named GERTY. It's one of those movies that makes you step back once it is over and question what you thought was real and what might actually be going on outside of your everyday life.

Butler gets his revenge: Law Abiding Citizen

Once Again Gerard Butler shows the movie world he can kick ass, but this time he does it while using his brain. After witnessing the murder of his wife and daughter, and then finds out the murderer will get away with only a 3 year prison sentence because his lawyer doesn't want to risk losing a case, Butler's character, Clyde Shelton, plans a way to get back at everyone involved in the case. After 10 years of carefully planning each and every move, Shelton manipulates his way though the judicial system, making sure everyone involved in letting a murderer walk the streets, gets what they deserve. Shelton makes sure that lawyer, Nick Rice, played by Jamie Foxx, gets to witness his life crumble right in front of his eyes, just like Shelton went through when he witnessed his wife and daughter's brutal murder.

I was Kind of upset that Shelton didn’t have a plan to directly destroy Rice’s life, but instead ruin everyone else's. After all, it was Rice's decision to cut a deal that cost Shelton the entire case against the true murderer, but none the less it was cool to see how Shelton had a plan for everything, and went through with it all as calm and collected as he did. I wish they did more on the background of who Shelton really was. When Nick Rice met with an anonymous informant, he found out how dangerous Shelton really was, learning that he specialized in killing people without ever being in the same room as the victim.

My favorite cinematical element of the movie is when director F. Gary Gray decided to use a clever shot where the curtains were drawn at the execution ceremony and the child’s cello recital. It was cool how they transitioned from one to the other, pulling both curtains at the same time.

My First Review: The Brothers Bloom

“I want an unwritten life” -Bloom

A story of two brothers turn con men who try to pull off the greatest con in the world, where everyone gets what they want. But as love intervenes and the curiosity of an epileptic photographer ruins the con, Bloom, played by Adrien Brody can’t tell the difference between what’s real and what his brother has written.

Ever since both Bloom and Stephen were young, they had a plan for everything; the older Stephen would create the perfect con the two would jump from city to city, country to country collecting their riches. However, Bloom was ready to throw it all away, he was tired of his brother writhing his life for him, and he wanted a way out. Stephen promised him this final con would be their way out, but as the movie goes on, it becomes increasingly harder and harder to tell whether or not Stephen is still living the con he has written, or that this is in fact Blooms real life.

The movie reminded me a lot of a Wes Anderson film, they way it started out with the narrator and strange group of characters thrown together throughout the movie. Rain Johnson, the director and writer of this movie also both wrote and directed the movie Brick (2005). I have seen both of these movies and cannot see any similarities between the two. Both are very good, but very different. The Brothers Bloom has a very up beat comedic feeling to it with great group of characters that added their own elements to help move the plot along.

“There are no such things as an unwritten life, just a badly written one.” -Stephen